M is for Major Matt Mason
by samantilles
Summary: Written for the Jacob Alphabet Soup hosted August 25th, 2009 by Fig Newton. Jacob and Sam reminisce on a gift that Jacob gave her as a child. Warning: Canon Character Death


"I'll be back in a minute!" Jacob watched his daughter dash out of her lab at the sound of an unauthorized incoming wormhole, and suddenly finding himself bored, he began gazing about the room.

Off on a shelf, out of the way, he spotted something he never thought he'd see again. Though battered and his paint well worn, Major Matt Mason stood guard over Samantha's lab. *Who is that supposed to be?* Selmak questioned, and Jacob released a chortle of a laugh. He took the action figure from the perch on which he was standing, holding him lightly in his hands.

"Major Matt Mason. Well, I'll be." The memory of the day he brought it home flashed for Selmak to see.

Sam entered the room just then, spying her father. "You know, I told you I wanted a Barbie Doll." She gave him a huge grin.

"She was never good enough for you kiddo. All she did was sit around and wait for some guy to pick her up. Now, Matt Mason on the other hand, he was a real role model." He carefully replaced the relic back on the shelf. Sam crossed her lab and joined him at his side. "You remember the day I brought him home for you? I couldn't get you to stop crying for the life of me when you opened that package. You were sobbing about how none of your friends would let you play with them with a stupid astronaut doll. I couldn't believe how upset you were."

Sam took Matt and fiddled with him for a moment. "Mom made me pack him when I went off to space camp that summer. She promised me all the cool kids at space camp would have Major Matt Mason's friends and I could play with them instead."

"I don't remember that at all." Jacob murmured.

"You were away then." She whispered back. Any louder and it would have been accusatory. "But she was right. He went with me everywhere after that. He was the poor unfortunate victim of gravity experiments and my lucky charm during exams. Man, did I get some strange glances in graduate school with an ancient astronaut sitting on the desk."

The room fell silent for a moment. "I knew you liked him eventually, but I never knew he was that important to you."

"He's even been to Abydos. I tucked him away in my vest pocket on my very first trip through the gate. Mind you, just hours before on our first meeting, I had smart mouthed the Colonel about my playing with my Matt Mason doll. When I packed my bag, I just knew he had to come with me, just like all those years at space camp." She paused for a moment before giving her dad a grin. "It's crazy, but when I was stuck in that death glider after destroying Apophis's ship and I caught the sight of Earth above me, I wished I had him with me then, so that Major Matt Mason would actually have been in space."

Jacob choked on a guffaw of his own, trying to hold back the side splitting laughter threatening to come out. "Selmak just asked me why the doll would care one way or the other-" He paused to gulp air. "And why you think bringing a doll would have been strategically a good move given the limited space you have in your gear. Obviously trinkets are not well known among the Tok'ra."

The reminiscing was cut off by another blaring siren and Sergeant Harriman's voice on the loudspeaker calling the Carters to the gateroom.

Sam's tears flowed freely on that lonely afternoon. Her father's funeral had been a quiet affair, though a larger ceremony at the SGC was due to commence shortly. She held Major Matt Mason tightly in her hands, rubbing the fading spacesuit with her thumb, providing more comfort than any other plastic doll could ever give. Major Matt Mason was everything she loved about her father; his ardent encouragement for her successes in life, their shared passion for space and science, and an unending loyalty to their country and each other. She held onto the doll for what seemed to be years as she pulled enough courage to face other people, and like the first mission to Abydos, she slipped him into her pocket and carried him with her.


End file.
